That’s a beautiful book cover, isn’t it? Part of the joy of buying and reading books is delighting in a well-designed, cover, interesting endpages and the staggered edges; I am a sucker for all of it so, in the physical, Katherine Howe’s The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane “had me at hello.” This is a perfectly proportioned book that is comfortable to read. The dust jacket is both becoming and clever -particularly at the binding, where it apes the classic old leather tomes- and the end papers echo 17th century penmanship and spelling; just delightful!

Thankfully, the promise of the cover is pretty-well fulfilled in his fun bit of historical fiction which I am dubbing an imperfect-yet-lively little summer read.

Author Katherine Howe lives in Massachusetts, where she is completing a PhD in American and New England studies. She is descended from two women who endured the Salem witch trials, Elizabeth Proctor (who survived them) and Elizabeth Howe (who did not). Following some classic writing advice, Katherine Howe has written “what she knows.” Thus we are treated to an insider’s view of the Ivy League food-chain, and an absorbed reader can feel the briny New England fog on the face. Howe’s prose is fluent and deliciously descriptive without being redundant.

Howe does a terrific job of sketching 1991 (the not-quite digital age where cell phones were unique rather than ubiquitous), and also of envisioning 17th Century New England, and the book moves pretty seamlessly back and forth through eras as our protagonist Connie Goodwin (pay attention to names) researches Deliverance Dane, a “cunning woman” who may-or-may-not have been just an accused witch, but a true one.

Does the story veer off here and there, into dubious territory? Well, yes. But not in a way that detracts. The greatest weakness of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is the most common weakness of every first novel: the unsubtle exposition. When Howe needs to give her reader background information on -for instance- alchemy, her brilliant protagonist suddenly sounds like a 14 year old who never read Harry Potter, while the novel’s “expert” on a given subject holds forth like a PhD candidate, which jars the reader out of the story. Also, Howe’s clue-dropping is a bit clumsy, which further weakens the strength of her main characterization. Howe is terrifically imaginative, but her protagonist is, alas, often either incurious or simply not as smart as she is supposed to be, which leads the reader to – occasionally – roll the eyes and say, “oh, come on, even ‘I’ know that ‘this’ is a reference to ‘that!’”

There is also a tendency by the author to subject her less-than-Ivy sub-characters to a nearly unreadable, broad New England patois that flirts with caricature, and becomes extremely annoying (and a trifle suspect, in terms of class-prejudice) after a while.

But these are minor quibbles, and Howe does actually manage to pull off something unexpected at the end.

Katherine Howe’s first novel is an interesting, imaginative and even instructive read; a fun book that also adds to one’s store of knowledge, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is the best sort of summertime historical-fiction.

A Taste of Heaven; A Guide to Food and Drink Made by Monks and Nuns by Madeline Scherb, with a forward by Brother Victor-Antoine D’Avila-Latourrette, whose wonderful book Twelve Months of Monastery Soups was one of my invaluable cookbooks, until I stupidly lent it out and lost track of it.

Some tantalizing recipes, here, all using products from various monastic houses – how could I not love this book?

Well, I like it a lot, and the author – who clearly got to do some wonderful traveling and retreating in the course of her research – does a terrific job of describing the abbeys and priories which deliver the spirits, cheeses, sweets and other “edifying edibles” used within. She gives a bit of history and local color, too. Which is why I was all the more disappointed that the book does not have lovely colored photographs of either the locations or the completed recipes.

No matter – there are dishes here I cannot wait to try, and I am not even a “foodie.” Scherb gives you all the information you need to contact abbeys or distributors to find the monastic specialities you’ll need to replicate the recipes – addresses, websites, phone listings, street crossings. A very thorough work that left me wondering only if she is correct in declaring that “all Benedictine communities are vegetarians” (I am not so sure). She even gives helpful advice on etiquette when visiting monastics, and suggested reading material.

Two minor quibbles: Scherb has a tendency to overuse the word “heavenly” when describing various foodstuffs, and she seems sadly unfamiliar with the glories of Mystic Monk Coffee. How a food guide to wonderful monastic food products, which also includes spirits, manages to miss the world’s best coffee as a finish to a meal, I simply cannot fathom!

Other than that, this book is a keeper, and I will certainly be checking out all of these monastic goods myself, in time to recommend them to you for your holiday shopping (as with last year!)

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane is part of this summer reading list post – do check it out; you might find something you’ll really enjoy for the summer.